The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to circuit boards.
In electrical systems, one source of signal degradation is crosstalk between multiple signal paths. Crosstalk occurs when signals conducted over a signal path are partly transferred by inductive and/or capacitive coupling into another signal path. For example, a typical industry standard type RJ-45 communications connector includes four differential pairs of contacts defining different signal paths. In conventional RJ-45 plug and jack connectors, the differential pairs of contacts extend closely parallel to one another, which may induce crosstalk between and/or among different differential pairs of the contacts.
Various approaches have been implemented to reduce, counteract, and/or suppress crosstalk within RJ-45 connectors. For example, some of the differential pairs of contacts with RJ-45 jack connectors include crossover segments wherein the contacts within a pair cross over each other. Such crossover segments facilitate balancing coupling with neighboring differential pairs on opposite sides of the crossover pair by reversing the orientation of the contacts within the crossover pair. Another approach to balancing coupling between different signal paths is splitting the contacts of one differential pair around another differential pair. However, the contacts of the crossover pairs may need to be reversed into the original orientation to align with another electrical component of the jack connector. Similarly, the contacts of a split pair may need to be brought closer together for alignment with another electrical component of the jack connector. For example, RJ-45 jack connectors sometimes include magnetic packages. However, the pattern of the contacts of the magnetic package groups the contacts within a differential pair relatively close together and in the original orientation of the crossover pair. Accordingly, the circuit boards of at least some known jack connectors have electrical traces that cross over each other or are routed relatively closer together to compensate for any crossover and split pairs of contacts. But, crossing over or bringing the electrical traces closer together may cause mismatching of differential pairs, which may result in signal degradation.
There exists a need for reducing or eliminating the mismatching of differential pairs on a circuit board.